The Kaleidoscope Effect
by R3DW0LF101
Summary: The whole of reality can change with one slight twist :D Sequel to Much Needed Escape :D
1. Chapter 1

**My muse seems to like where this is going since it actually decided to help me out with this new chapter :D I just have to say that this story will make A LOT more sense if you read Much Need Escape first since this is part 2 of that story. The overall story was originally supposed to be a Jecker fic (trust me there will be Jecker and Conby and Memily in this since it's hard not to :D) but my various muses got carried away and thought they'd like to try their hand at writing Sci-Fi :D**

****The light bulb turned on in my head when I was reading stuff about Kaleidoscopes and how turning the little beads around changed what you see. So I guess if you think about it, one slight twist can change what the future looks like :D :D :D ******And since we're dealing with time-travel and paradoxes and all that, _PLEEEEEEEEASE_ tell me if you guys find loopholes in this story 'cause I will most definitely end up leaving some and I think I might have already :D **

**Oh and I thought Connor needed to grow up a bit and show some balls so VOILA :D This also had very mild swearing :P**

**:D **_Don't own anything except the plot, my OCs and any settings I create in the future _**:D**

**Enjoy :D :D :D**

Connor sat out on the balcony bent over the damaged PDA system intent on bringing it back to life after finding it sitting next to the rubbish bin while the ARC soldiers put the trashed hotel room back in order. Beside him, Becker sat glaring at the cracked screen with various wires in his hands. No one had talked to him directly. Not since he pinned a terrified soldier up against the wall for picking up one of Jess' discarded tops off the carpet.

It was Connor, surprisingly enough, that managed to calm the Captain down by getting him to help fix the PDA and Jess' broken comm piece outside in the fresh air.

"Green wire..." Connor said quietly.

Becker handed it over and watched him attach it to the device, carefully soldering them in place. His voice was low and raw with emotion when he spoke "I could have prevented this... It's my fault she's gone."

Connor paused, glancing up at him over the top of his safety glasses. Becker's tortured gaze was locked on his hands, his shoulders slumped forward in defeat. It reminded him of the pain he'd gone through when he'd lost Abby to the Mer-Creatures, back when all of this was only beginning. They too had been fighting, making matters worse when she was pulled from the boat.

"It could have happened to anyone." he said quietly, returning back to the device in front of him.

"Why did they have to take _Jess_ though?"

Connor frowned. "She's the Field Coordinator. Our eyes and ears out in the field. She's our rock. Without her we'd just be..." Connor paused, feeling tears well up in the corners of his eyes. Jess was friends with everyone. She made them who they were. Her energetic personality and fast reflexes kept them all alert and prepared. Connor sat back against his chair and stared down at the technical equipment in front of him. "She's knows _everything_ about us." he whispered.

Becker glanced up at him and frowned. "But they're after the anomaly prototype, surely kidnapping _you_ would have been the better option!"

Connor laughed. "Good to know you have my back mate."

Becker stared at him, no traces of humor present on his face. "If it came down between saving you or Jess, I will _always_ choose her."

Connor's eyes narrowed, a grin tugging at the corner of his lips. "Then you'd jump through an anomaly and save me too because the guilt would have started eating you alive, yeah?"

Becker rolled his eyes.

"We'll get her back soon. Apparently Sarah knows who took her." Connor leaned forward and continued piecing back together the broken PDA.

Becker frowned. "The girl who came here with Matt? How would she know?"

Connor shrugged. "She already knew about the ARC and what we do. Matt's actually having a chat with her right now."

Just then one of the soldiers stepped out onto the balcony. "Captain Becker. Mr Temple. There's, uh, personal garmets that belong to Miss Parker in here. Should we, uh..."

Becker's hand tensed into a fist, squashing the wires hard against his palm.

Connor sighed. "Get Emily or Abby to put her clothes away."

Becker watched the soldier disappear back into the room. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed in frustration as he stood. "That it's! I can't just sit around. I have to do something-"

"Becker sit back down" Connor ordered sternly, never taking his eyes off of the wires he was connecting to each other.

Becker stopped and stared at him blankly. "Temple, You _know_ me! I have to get her back!"

"You're not in the right mind set to do anything right now. You need to calm down."

"_Screw you_ Temple!" Becker snapped suddenly. Connor jumped, glad that he had turned off the soldering torch as Becker slammed his fists down onto the table. "You do _not_ have the right to tell me what to do! Jess is gone, probably _hurt_ and it's_ my fault_! You all keep saying it's not, but it _is_! I made her stay in the room alone! I'm the one that couldn't handle having her with us in the field. I'm suppose to be _protecting_ you all! But what do I have to show for that? So far Nick's been _murdered_, Sarah's _died_, Danny's _missing_, you and Abby got lost in the _Cretaceous_, we just had to rescue Matt and now _Jess has been kidnapped!_"

Connor leaned back against his chair, watching Becker let off the steam that had been building over the past couple of years. He knew he should be terrified of him right now, but as he watched his face grow hot with anger and pain, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. They all knew the pain he was going through. They'd lost good people going into this job. It was enough to drive any sane man insane.

"It's all my fault."

He'd had enough. Connor stood abruptly, glaring at the younger man. "Sit down and _shut up!_" he growled.

Becker glared at him.

Connor returned the glare. He was tired of hearing Becker repeat himself like a broken record. He was tired of being the weakest of the guys. He stood up straighter and narrowed his eyes. "Captain Hilary Becker! Sit. Down. _Now!_"

Becker's glare disappeared instantly, replaced with shock at the mention of his first name. "How did you-"

"Sit!" Connor growled.

With a sigh of defeat, he complied, surprised at the tone of athority and maturity the geek had gained over the past couple of hours.

"Now you listen to me _Becker_! We _know_ Jess has been taken but it is _not_ _your fault_! You need to stop blaming yourself when things go wrong! We need the _old_ Becker right now! The one that's not afraid to face T-Rexes, Megopterans and Future Predators. The one that brings back his soldiers alive and uninjured. Not this... "_it's all my_ _fault_" shit! You're a _Captain_ for gods sake! Get a grip and_ show them a leader_!"

Becker stared at Connor, wide-eyed and speechless.

"Sorry to interrupt again..." they both turned to see the soldier poking his head around the glass sliding door. "Miss Maitland and Miss Merchant would like to speak to you both."

Connor frowned. "They don't need permission to come outside. And it's _Mrs Temple_!" He called back as the soldier disappeared back into the room.

A few minutes later the girls slipped out onto the balcony and sat down beside the boys with notepads sitting on the table in front of them.

"What's up?" Connor asked casually, sitting back down and packing away his equipment.

The girls looked between the two men then back at each other and sighed.

"We had a couple of witnesses see what happened." Abby replied. She glanced down at the notes scribbled down on her piece of paper and added "One said that they saw two large identical men in dark grey uniforms bust the door open while a tall brunette lady wearing three-quarter length khaki pants and a thin blue jumper went inside. Another saw them drag-"

Connor held up his hand to stop her, his gaze flickering towards Becker. His face was stone-cold and emotionless. His eyes almost black with anger and his hands were clenched into unbearably tight fists on his lap. "I think we get the idea Abs."

She followed his gaze. "Sorry."

Becker leaned forward with his elbows on the table and frowned. The girls were both surprised to hear his voice calm and controlled. "Okay. We have a small idea of _who_ took her, and what they want in exchange for her but _where _would they take her?"

They all looked at each other with disappointment clouding their faces. They had no idea where to start.

Connor sighed. "I'm going to go check on Matt." he looked pointedly at Becker and grinned. "Cutter told me what your name was when you started working at the ARC. At least you've never been mistaken for a building in archaeology."

Becker raised an eyebrow as he disappeared into the room. Glancing at the girls' amused faces he couldn't help a small smile himself.

~.~

"Alright. Start explaining."

Sarah watched as Matt paced back and forth across the carpet in front of her. Beside her, Charlie was occupying herself with a game on Matt's phone. She sighed, running her hand through her hair in frustration. "I wouldn't know where to start, to be honest! It's all a bit blurry."

Matt paused and turned towards the girls. "Start with why you're here."

Sarah closed her eyes and tried to think back. She remembered a glowing bright light, an anomaly, and Charlie crying out for her as she disappeared through it. She sighed, shaking off the memory. _Beginning _she thought_ start at the beginning_. "Amy has this supposedly 'Grand Idea' that she wouldn't tell anyone about. All we know is that it revolves around... this." she reached for a diamond-shaped golden crystal dangling from a thin chain around her neck. The crystal looked like it had been cut verticallly down the middle, separating it from a second piece. "She can't do anything without both halves."

Sarah lifted the chain up and over her head and passed it to Matt for him to examine more closely. He frowned. "This... Sarah is this what I think it is?"

She nodded. "It's a Crystal Map. Well, one half of it." She turned to Charlie and smiled sweetly down at her. "Charlie can I please see your necklace for a couple of minutes?"

The little girl shook her head, her hand raising to the crystal hidden beneath her shirt. "Mommy said to only let Daddy have the crystal."

"Well then can Daddy please see your necklace?"

Charlie looked up at Matt, her eyes sparkling at she smiled at him.

His eyes widened when she slipped the golden chain up over her head and held the crystal out towards him. He knelt down in front of the couch they were sitting on and glanced up at Sarah as he took the second half of the crystal. "She's my... how is that possible?"

Sarah frowned. "You know how babies are made, right?"

Matt rolled his eyes and she laughed. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Can't you figure out who her mother is?"

"I'm not invisitable! I can still heard you" Charlie mumbled.

"I know you're not sweetheart. Daddy's just a little confused at the moment. I'm trying to help him understand."

Matt gasped, standing back up and taking a good couple of steps back. "She... she looks like Emily! That... How... What _time_ are you from exactly?" he asked her suspiciously.

She grinned. "That's something I _definitely_ can't share with you. Now back to the crystals. You need to gently press the two pieces together."

He looked down at the two crystals in his hands and frowned. "You're telling me this is a map to the anomalies? All anomalies?"

Sarah nodded. "Past, Present, Future. Since you stopped the Prospero Anomaly, you changed everyone's future. It was like we'd woken up from a never ending dream. You're future self doesn't exist in my time though. That's the only thing I don't understand."

"I have to go back..." he muttered quietly.

Sarah frowned as Charlie curled herself up next her. "I want to go home." she mumbled through a yawn.

"I know sweetheart, we'll go home soon." Sarah wrapped her arm around her, watching Matt gaze down at the crystals. "What would _you_ be returning to? As far as we know, your reality doesn't exist anymore."

Matt looked up to find Charlie asleep in Sarah's lap now, while she gently stroked her thick brown ringlets. He sighed "If I place these together, it just shows the map, right? It doesn't open a random anomaly?"

Sarah looked up at him and frowned. "It shouldn't. I've only seen it in action once before and only a map was projected."

Matt nodded, glancing back down at the crystals. He could feel a magnetic-like pull between them the closer they got to each other. Their entire existence just shouldn't be possible. He had read the ARC's old reports on a similar piece of technology, the _Artifact_, which Helen used to map out the anomalies she needed to get to site 333. That technology didn't exist in his world though.

The crystal seemed to act of their own accord in his palm, snapping together with a quiet clink. Matt frowned, looking up at Sarah expectantly. "Nothing happened."

She slowly begun to smile, her eyes watching the crystal begin to glow in his palm. He gasped as the projection shot out and circled around him. Streams of golden light looped around, over and under him in a never ending stream. He laughed.

"Hey Matt, we were wondering if–" Connor paused, his eyes widening at the glowing sight before him.

Behind him, the others stood with mirrored expressions, their eyes also wide.

Connor stepped forward slowly, watching the stream continued to loop around itself. "This... I can't believe..." his eyes zoomed in on the small crystal in Matt's hand. He grinned. "You been keeping secrets from us again?"

"More or less." Matt replied with a grin, splitting apart the two crystals and watching the map fade away instantly.

***covers eyes* Here's some virtual cookies! Don't worry Jess will be saved and they'll all have their little fluffy moments :D :D :D**

**Please review! I need your honest opinions on this :D :D :D :D **


	2. Chapter 2

**Gosh it feels weird updating this. SO SORRY for not updating! It seems I'm not the only one having to go through exams :D My last one is on Monday so I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing again. May take a while so I'm not promising when the next update will be :D Sadly there's hardly any Becker or Jess in this chapter. I have to reach my dark place before writing about them :D Sorry if its all a bit OOC and if there's mistakes :D Thanks to everyone who reviewed the other chapter! :D **

**:D **_Don't own anything except the plot, my OCs and any settings I create in the not to distant future _**:D**

**Enjoy :D :D :D**

Sarah spread a map of the islands out across the desk pointing out the area they had just escaped from. She turned to Connor "Their main ops center is on that island. The computer system is similar to your ADD in London so if you can fix Jess' PDA I could use it to hack into the files and figure out where they would have taken her."

Connor nodded in agreement and quickly got to work on fixing the tablet while Sarah continued talking to the others.

"Matt, my best guess is that they've taken her to one of the neighbouring islands. They'd have upped the security since we left. Amy isn't one to hurt someone but you can't underestimate the guards. They could bring you, Becker and half of your men down in a heartbeat if you're not prepared."

"We'd be going in blind though. They'll still have the advantage." Abby piped in.

Sarah grinned at her. "That's where I'll come in handy. I know these islands inside and out. Plus once Connor fixes the PDA, I'll be able to hack in and get the schematics of the buildings."

Connor frowned down at the broken pieces in his hands. "That might take a while guys."

"You better hurry up then mate." Matt glanced at Becker who was half leaning against the furtherest wall from everyone. He hadn't said a word since entering the room with the others. He occasionally nodded to show that he was taking everything in or to answer Abby's worried "Are you okay?" but he keep his distance, keeping his eyes and ears locked on the small person in the middle of the group.

Sarah followed Matt's gaze and found Becker watching her with narrowed eyes.

She smiled warmly at him and watched his whole expression change in an instant, like someone had flicked a switch on inside. His expression softened but the slight frown creasing his forehead was still evident.

Sarah turned back to the others and looked closely at the islands on the map. "I have someone on the inside. If he's still there, he'd be able to keep Jess safe enough until you guys get in there.

"Andy?" Matt asked incredulously.

Sarah nodded. "Matt, I know he doesn't seem like the good guy in all of this but he's on our side."

Abby looked up from the map and frowned. "Is this the same Andy that had a fasination with Jess?" Sarah nodded and she laughed. "No way. I'm not trusting him."

Sarah sighed. "Trust _me_ Abby. He's one of the good guys!"

o.O~O.o

After an hour and a half of intense consentration, Connor finally had the PDA back up and running. He sat beside Sarah while they got to work hacking into the 'ARC's system.

Behind them, Emily and Abby talked in hushed tones while Charlie slept between them and Matt stared down at a small brown book in his hand.

He felt bad snooping through Sarah's things but he'd seen the book fall out of her pocket when she ran after Connor and Becker. The first page he'd flicked it open to had captured his attention immediately.

_ October 6__th__ 2035 _

_ There was another anomaly today. They've been more frequent lately. Like someone;s been flicking a switch off and on. I was playing a game with Charlie and Scott, the son of my Dad's Second In Command, when the alarms went off and the ARC began to buzz with life again. One of the off-duty soldiers came and led us to the Panic Room. _

_ It was routine. Alarm goes off - we get to the Panic Room as quickly as possible - teams come back to the ARC - we get let out. I'm still not convince that it's to "keep us kids safe." More like they don't want the younger ones knowing what was going on. _

_ They keep making a big deal about homeschooling us all. They don't want their big 'secret' getting out. I don't mind it though. Emily is a great teacher._

_ Dad said that once I was old enough I would be able to go with them to an anomaly site. But I would have to go through training before I could. I already know how to handle a gun. How hard could it be? I hate not being able to help. _

_ There was a lot of talk going around when the team returned today too. They found something at the anomaly site. Two clear crystals burried in a rock of magnetite. They think, because of it's properties, the rock flew through the anomaly by itself. Connor was reluctant to let it out of his sight. It took hours of convincing but I got to hold it... eventually. _

_ He managed to get the crystals free of the magnetite as well, with a little help from me. Being his assistant is fun. It's the closest I'm going to get to the anomalies until I'm eighteen._

_ He had given me the crystals to look at under the microscope but before I could set the slide up, the crystals clicked together like magentic rattlesnake eggs and they began to glow._

_ Connor took them out of my hand before I could blink and split the crystals apart. He started muttering to himself a bit after that. To be honest I was a little bit worried about his sanity. He kept talking to himself about something called The Artifact, whatever that was._

_ I watched him put one of the crystals under his microscope and he chuckled quietly to himself. When I asked him what he had found, he told me the crystals contained tiny specs of golden minerals he'd never seen before. I didn't understand why he was so happy though until he put the crystals together again and suddenly streams of light shot out around us._

_ It was like the streams were parts of the sun woven into strands of gold, constantly looping around itself. Where the streams intersected another, a small golden ball would form over the cross._

_ He said a man called Professor Cutter had built something resembling what we had seen and something called The Artifact had projected the same glowing streams as well. _

_ But what caught Connor's attention was how all the strands seemed to loop back around and join into one point near the base of the crystals._

Matt looked up from the words roughly scribbled onto the pages and glanced at Sarah with narrowed eyes. "2035?"

She spun around fast, her eyes widening as she shot up out of her seat. She quickly snatched the book back. "You shouldn't be reading this!" She exlcaimed. "This book is classified! You should _never _have read any of it!"

"I saw something about the crystals..."

Her hazel eyes darkened. "If you wanted to know more about them you should have _asked_!"

Connor looked up from the PDA with a curious glint in his eye. "The crystals?" he glanced at Matt and frowned. "I thought they just showed the map of the anomalies."

"The book explained some of their properties. Thought you might find them useful."

Connor turned to Sarah and smiled warmly. "Can I see?"

"No!"

He raised his eyebrows, surprised by her quick response. "You didn't even hesitate."

She frowned. "I didn't have to. _None of you_ can read this!"

"Why not?"

"Like I said, it's _classified_."

Connor frowned, his eyes darting around to the others who were all watching them now. He looked back at Sarah and suddenly his expression was hopeful. "Are you from the future or something?"

"That would explain why you know so much." Abby added.

"2035." Matt said quietly.

"Where I come from isn't important!"

Connor begun to beam. "So you _are_ from the future! You probably already know what's going to happen! Like Matt!"

"No, not like Matt. I come from a different timestream."

The only one that didn't seem shocked or surprised was Matt

Sarah held up her half of the crystal, trying to focus their attention back on them. "These are our key to getting Jess back. Inside, they have traces of a rare form of magnetite in them. My guess is that whatever these are _didn't_ come from earth."

"So this comes from space?"

Sarah shrugged "Probably. I was never told otherwise."

Connor looked like he was about to jump with joy. "Futuristic Space rock!"

"It's not _futuristic_ space rock! It came through an anomaly from the _past_."

He turned to Abby, oblivious to Sarah's attempts at correcting him. "Cutter would have loved this! It changes everything! Imagine what we could do with something like this! If we copied the data from this, we'd be able to predict all anomalies before they even happen..."

Sarah couldn't help the small grin beginning to form on her face when she passed the crystal over and watched the geek begin to fuss over it, completely forgetting about their previous topic.

Abby came and stood beside him, frowning as she looked down over his shoulder. "Is this why Amy wants these? So she can predict anomalies?"

"If that is all she wants it for, why do we not do a swap?" Emily asked, Charlie curled up against her side.

"I wish it was that simple Emily, but we can't let Amy get her hands on them. With the right technology, you can do a _lot_ more than just predict anomalies."

"Looks like we'll be using force to get Jess back then." Matt replied.

Connor laughed lightly. "Breaking and Entering. Becker would love that."

Abby glanced around the hotel room, expecting the Captain to have a snarky reply but found him no where to be seen. "Where is Becker?"

"He went for a walk." Connor replied without taking his eyes off the small crystal in his hand.

"Are you sure he's in the right mind to be wandering off by himself mate?"

Connor glanced up at Matt and grinned. "I got a couple of the soldiers to shadow him. He'll be fine."

**I got lazy around the middle so it skips ahead in time :D I originally had a part with Jess and her 'captors' on a boat but it was pointless and random so I took it out :P **

**Please review :D I've missed them **


	3. Chapter 3

**I'M BACK but I'm trying not to get any hopes up because I doubt I'll be able to squeeze out another chapter any time soon and I'll probably disappear again since I've really had to focus on school and such seeing as it's my last year. This chapter was a b%#h to write! Becker's little part has been sitting in little summary notes on my comp since November last year! He was easy! Jess' part however, has gone through about ten or so drafts and I still don't think this is good enough. This story just seems to have gone downhill to me :( BUT I'm going to finish it... eventually :D Sorry for any mistakes in this, I couldn't be bothered proof-reading more than once :)**

_Don't own anything except the plot, my OCs, additional settings I've made up and this delicious bag of popcorn beside me :D_

**Enjoy :D**

Jess was hurt, and badly at that.

Only it wasn't physical. The group who had more or less kidnapped her weren't exactly treating her like a hostage. They had a fully trained medic take care of her injuries, especially the deep bruise beginning to form on her left temple. They had also let her wander around the area they had landed at. At least she thought the helicopter had landed somewhere nearby. She was currently gazing out of a large glass window that looked out over a 50 foot drop into crystal clear blue water. The only means of escape that she had worked out would be to break the glass and jump, not knowing how deep the water below was.

Yes, her injuries weren't physical, but they _were_ emotional.

She wanted to scream, to fight back against the people who had taken her away from her colleagues, her friends. She wanted to revert back to temper tantrums, demanding answers. But above all, she wanted to crawl up into a ball, hide away in a dark corner, and cry. But she couldn't do any of that. She had to stay strong, if not for herself then for her friends.

She had been warned, quite clearly, that if she attempted to so much as talk back to anyone in the building, there would be consequences.

Maybe she _was_ still a hostage after all.

The light was slowly fading from the sky as the sun dipped down below the horizon. As the stars began rising, Jess found herself falling. She sunk down onto the floor in front of the window, hoping the others would be coming to save her.

"You can't do this! It's stupid! Think of all the consequences!" a voice called from outside of her room.

Jess frowned as she rose to her feet. She edged closer to the door and opened in an inch, noticing a pair that had stopped at the end of the corridor.

"I'm going through with the plan whether you help me or not! Once I get my hands on those crystals, everything will be ready." She didn't know the name of the female but the male was clearly Andy.

"You can't bring him back Amy! As much as you want to, you just _can't!_"

They both stopped and Amy turned towards him. "I'm going to save him Andy, and I don't care who I have to go through to make that happen. He's the only one that's smart enough to set everything _right_."

"But he's _dead_ Amy. If you save him, you'll just be changing the timelines again!" Andy threw his arms up in frustration. "What happened to not getting the _others_ involved? You're getting my parents mixed up in this too! You haven't thought about how this will affect them. If you save him, everything will change."

"That's the goal Andrew! You might not see it now, but I'm trying to save the future here! To do that, I need my father back."

Jess let out a slight gasp, but it was enough to catch the pairs attention. They both seemed to turn towards her in slow motion, their reactions making Jess incapable of moving. Andy seemed to go into shock at first but quickly recovered, his face growing dark as he turned towards Amy.

"You kidnapped _Jess_?"

If Andy was angry, Amy was furious. She waved down a couple of nearby guards and suddenly Jess found herself being propelled over to them. "How much did you hear?" she growled.

"I...I..."

"Spit it out!"

Jess was too terrified to put together two coherant words let alone explain what she'd heard. Amy seemed to get angrier the longer she took. Her hand raised in the air.

Jess closed her eyes, bracing herself for a slap but no pain came. Andy had stepped in between them and caught Amy's hand. "Stop it. You hurt her, and you'll have more than saving your father to worry about."

Amy hissed. "Her daughter is the one that has the crystals!"

Everything in Jess' mind slowed right down at that point. She didn't know whether she would starting grinning and jump around or whether she would faint right there on the spot. She stared at the pair in front of her. The thought of having kids had only crossed her mind once in her life and that was when her mum and dad were giving her 'The Talk'. Now she knew she had a _ daughter_.

Andy released Amy's hand and turned to the guards holding Jess. "Let her go." he turned back to Amy and frowned. "You really have no idea what you're getting yourself into Amy. _No _idea!"

o.O ~ O.o

They were tailing him.

And they weren't even doing a good job of it.

They were sloppy and Becker could have spotted them from a mile away. He had to give credit to Lieutenant Nelson however. He was the only one that had managed to get within 20 feet of him without giving away his position.

Ignoring the men following him, Becker paused on the dock and glanced out towards the surrounding islands. They were beautiful, he would give them that, but one of them had something he needed and he would gladly destroy each and every one them to bring her back safe and sound.

The jingle of keys from beside him caught his attention and he turned to see the owner of the Jet Ski Hire locking up the sheds for the night. That was all it took for a plan to form in Becker's mind.

Before he knew it, he was making his way across the dock to the sheds just as the owner turned to go home.

"I'm so sorry." Becker apologised half-heartedly, slipping the owners keys into his pocket as he bumped into him. The owner smiled and muttered a few words before continuing towards the block of shops.

After the owner was out of view Becker pulled out the keys and smiled down at them.

There was a hand on his shoulder suddenly and Becker's instincts took charge. In a matter of seconds, he had Lieutenant Nelson pinned against the wall of the shed, the young man quickly trying to assure his Captain that he wasn't trying to hurt him.

Becker sighed, releasing him. "What are you doing following me?"

"You noticed?"

"I noticed all five of you. Now why are you all following me Lieutenant!"

The young man straightened up. "Connor ordered us to shadow you Sir."

Becker laughed. "You took orders from Temple?"

"Yes Sir."

Becker's amused expression vanished instantly. "Since when do you take orders from _Temple_?"

"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say..."

"Answer the question Lieutenant. And that's a direct order."

Nelson gulped, swallowing the nervous lump that had formed in his throat. "Since Miss Parker when missing Sir. We now take orders from all personnel on the core team."

"Why would you need-"

"With all due respect Sir, since Miss Parkers disappearance, you have not been yourself. It was in everyone's best interests to give you a rest from commanding. We now take orders from the core team. Sir." the Lieutenant explained quickly.

Becker's eyes narrowed, his finger tightening around the set of keys in his hand. "Who is your Commanding Officer?"

Nelson smiled. "You are, Sir. That never changed."

"Good."

Nelson frowned. "Why is that good?"

"It means I can order you to quit following me!" Becker replied as he turned to the lock on the sheds.

The Lieutenant laughed lightly. "He thought you'd say that."

Becker paused, glancing up at the man. "What?"

"Connor, Sir. He told us you would order us to stop following you."

"Well as your Commanding Officer, I order you to stop following me and to go back to the hotel."

Lieutenant Nelson sighed. "I can't, Sir."

"Why not? It's a direct-"

"Connor ordered us to ignore you if you order us to stop following you, Sir. His exact words were "Don't do anything that Action Man orders you to do, he's bound to do something stupid. And that's a _direct order_." I'm sure he was mocking you Sir with the 'direct order'. Even so, we still have to follow you."

"Great. Just... _great_!" Becker frowned and returned back to the lock, trying out the several keys on the chain. It took him three tries before he found the right key. The lock came loose and fell into his hand.

Lieutenant Nelson glanced down at what he had been doing and sighed. "Sir, are you doing what I think you're doing?"

"Did Temple say anything else about stopping me... or telling him what I was doing?"

Nelson nodded. "He told us to call him if you were going to do something reckless, stupid, or something that could potentially kill you. I'll repeat my question: Sir, are you doing what I_ think_ you're doing_?_"

Becker sighed again as he handed the set of keys over and lifted up the shed door. "How's about hiring a jet ski? Would you have to tell him about that?"

Nelson frowned "Yes I would but Sir, what you're doing isn't hiring. It's _stealing_."

Becker grinned "I'm simply going to borrow it until I find Jess and then I'll bring it back."

"Sir! You_ can't_!"

Becker began to roll one of the jet skis out towards the ramp but Lieutenant Nelson took hold of the bars and held him back. "I can't let you do that, Sir."

"How's your wife? Mary, isn't it? You must _worry_ about her, being all alone back in London_ without_ you."

"Of course I do but Sir, what you're doing is stupid! Anyone in their right mind would tell you that!"

Becker stopped trying to pull the jet ski and walked around it so he stood next to Nelson. His eyes darkened. "The others are just sitting around looking at maps and those _stupid_ crystals! Jess is out there and I'm going to find her. Now if want to keep this face of yours proportioned correctly, I suggest you _move_."

Nelson sighed in defeat. He already knew he'd lost this battle. He stepped to the side so Becker could put the jet ski into the water and quickly got out his cell phone, hitting speed dial.

The phone was picked up on the second ring. "Okay, _what's he done_?"

Nelson frowned as the motor of the jet ski roared to life. "Connor, he's stolen a jetski."

**Did I mention somewhere that I love you guys? Well I do :D **

***Curls into ball* Okay... you now have permission to throw stuff at me.**


End file.
